Monthly Archives: May 2021

A transcription and captioning company that's helping to move the industry toward artificial intelligence has made a key acquisition to firm up its market position. For many in industries like journalism, the news is bitter-sweet, heralding new levels of efficiency and accuracy in transcription but also signaling the dying days of the venerable transcriptionist.

Verbit, which bills itself the world's largest AI-powered transcription platform, has acquired captioning company VITAC. The move will help Verbit secure its position as a dominant force in the professional transcription and captioning market, which is critical to sectors like legal, media, education, government, and enterprise.

As a journalist, I have a fond relationship with human transcription professionals. The degree to which professional transcribers go to get a spelling correct or to include a list of probable words in a garbled section of audio can border on heroic. The mere act of having something transcribed has often been a sort of unofficial delineation between veteran journalists and up-and-comers, for whom the initiation rites of transcribing interviews themselves are as brutal as they are tedious. And for niche applications, including some medical and specialty academic spheres, human-led transcription may still be necessary.

But sentimentalism aside, this has long been an industry headed for innovation. The rise of voice recognition technology and the power of machine learning to parse spoken language with help from immense datasets means the writing has been on the wall. AI-only transcription is still far from perfect, but companies are increasingly relying on AI for a first pass at transcribing audio.

San Francisco-based Verbit utilizes a hybrid approach to transcription. In-house, AI-based technology transforms both live and recorded video and audio into what the company claims are 99%+ accurate captions and transcripts for the education, legal, media, and enterprise industries. Human transcribers act as clean-up crews to increase accuracy.

"We are thrilled to further strengthen our position as the market leader in the transcription and captioning industry in partnership with VITAC. This opportunity allows us to expand our offerings for the media vertical and provide advanced transcription capabilities to our current education, legal, and corporate customers," said Tom Livne, CEO and Founder of Verbit. "The combined company will harness decades of transcription and captioning expertise to offer customers a best-in-class solution based on our proven technology. We will continue to invest in our platform, toptalent, and domain expertise to evolve and develop our solutions to meet our customers' dynamic needs."

VITAC, which has focused on communication accessibility via captioning, is responsible for captioning hundreds of thousands of programming hours each year, with clients including every broadcast company and most cable networks, as well as Fortune 1000 Corporations, educational institutions, and government agencies.

"We're delighted to join the Verbit family and bolster their leading position in the transcription industry globally," said Chris Crowell, CEO of VITAC. "We've been incredibly impressed with Verbit's rapid growth and technology advantages, and together we look forward to serving more of this dynamic industry with clients across all vertical segments."

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AI transcription moves to corner the market - ZDNet

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Q&A

Slaughterbots. Predictive policing. Your computer suddenly showing you ads for something you were speaking about hours before. Malcolm Burnley tells us all about it.

Malcolm Burnley, co-host of the new AI Nation podcast about artificial intelligence and its dangers and benefits. Photograph by Erin OBrien

There are lots of (read: way too many) podcasts in this world. But one that has really caught our attention of late is the new podcast about artificial intelligence, AI Nation, a project of WHYY and Princeton University. (Listen here.) On the show, co-host Malcolm Burnley, a former Philly Mag staff writer, breaks the controversial and ubiquitous technology down in a way anybody can understand. We tracked down the 31-year-old Society Hill resident to learn more.

How many times in the course of a day is the average American encountering artificial intelligence?The entire experience of the Internet is so informed by AI. Autocorrect on our phones is one of the biggest examples. Our web searches. E-commerce. Things that pop up in our feeds. Since the Capitol breach, there has been a lot of conversation about how AI and certain algorithms point certain people in different political directions and down various rabbit holes. And then in the physical world, theres a lot more facial recognition going on than were aware of.

Give me an example that youve dissected on AI Nation.Predictive policing. One story on the show is about Nijeer Parks. He wound up in jail for 10 days based on a bad facial-recognition match. He didnt even match the physical description of the person they were looking for. There were so many red flags that warranted further consideration. But instead, he went to jail. There is no transparency with police departments that are using this technology, and we only find out about it if they mess up.

Frightening.For sure. The other facial-recognition stuff thats frightening are these companies like Clearview. Supposedly, close to a quarter of all Americans are in their database, and what they can do is run a photo through their system and tell you who the person is, what their online profiles are. Only clients of Clearview can get access. This can just be a photo somebody takes with an iPhone.

My sister still wont get EZPass because shes worried about the government tracking her. Yet she has an iPhone. The government is already onto her, right? She should just get the EZPass?[Laughs] I think its fair to say that companies and the government have her information. With the government, the pandemic response in South Korea was a glaring example. They required everyone to download an app and share data with the government. As dystopian as that sounds, they were able to do contact tracing at this hyper level. They didnt have to shut down their whole economy. They knew locations, financial transactions. They had closed-circuit footage. I talked to people in South Korea who said that when they were told to quarantine, if their cell phone didnt move for a few hours, someone would knock on their door to see if they had just left their phone at home so they could go out.

Okay, so my wife and I were speaking about a type of product while we were sitting on the couch. Nobody was searching for anything online. The next day, Im getting ads for the thing. No, we dont have Alexa. Please explain. Is this just a coincidence?Its definitely not a coincidence. Its probably your phone. Siri. Its happened to me, and its jarring and shocking. You probably gave some app on your phone access to your microphone. Who knows?

Right. Could be the phone. Could be the laptop. Maybe the cable remote that you can talk to. Its scary. Is there any regulatory body dealing with all of this? Some agency whose mission is to prevent us from suffering the fate of the astronauts in 2001 or humankind in Dr. Strangelove?No, but I believe there will be soon. There have already been hearings in Washington with U.S. Senators and Representatives asking deeply skeptical questions. There have been data breaches. Then things like the Capitol breach. I think some big thing will happen that will trigger a call for more regulation, the way that 9/11 triggered the creation of Homeland Security.

Was there some point when you were researching for AI Nation where you were just like, OMG, I cant believe theyre doing that? Like some drone that can scan my face and then shoot me with a laser?Theres a video online called Slaughterbots [embedded below] that is essentially what you just described. Its a fictional video put out there in 2017 by this group trying to regulate autonomous weapons. The capability exists now to have a tiny drone identify somebody by facial recognition and then kill them. Theres no evidence that its been used yet. The world of autonomous weapons is so, so scary to dive into.

But with drones, you actually have a human behind the trigger, right?Most examples are some mixture of AI and humans having to decide to pull the trigger. But one guest we had on AI Nation was Laura Nolan, who quit Google. She was an engineer and quit over this controversial project with the DoD called Project Maven, a kill-chain project that would get computers a lot closer to pulling the trigger themselves.

Just to be clear, though, there arent any drones doing this now. But there will be in the future.Theres a Turkish military company that makes something called the Kargu. Its much bigger than the slaughterbot you saw in that video. It can go out on its own and ID someone and kill them. The technology has been confirmed. We dont know that its ever been used.

But its not all bad, right? Artificial intelligence can help me, too.Absolutely. AI will really help us so much in a future pandemic. Well be able to end a pandemic years from now in a matter of weeks using AI.

AI is already causing and will inevitably cause a lot more inequity. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer.

Anything more practical, for right now?The most impressive example of AI that Ive found is regarding whats known as the protein folding problem. It was something that scientists were trying to solve for 75 years. Some scientists spent their entire careers trying to solve this problem. Well, AI has solved the problem. It was announced last year. How AI solved it was just incredible. The scientists had been using the laws of physics. The computer invented its own form of physics on the fly. This has major impacts on fighting a future pandemic and finding cures for diseases.

So a computer figured out a problem that countless scientists had worked on for the better part of a century, which raises an important question: What do we do with all of the people whose jobs have been taken by AI and whose jobs will be taken in the future by AI?Im so happy you brought this up. AI is already causing and will inevitably cause a lot more inequity. The jobs AI tends to take are low-wage jobs. AI will tend to replace women and people of color. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer. Just like in the Industrial Revolution, when inequity skyrocketed. I dont have the answer. And its scary to think of the economic impact and mental health impact of people not being able to work or having jobs lost. We need to make sure we design systems with those people in mind.

Okay, last thing. Some predictions. Drone deliveries en masse. A robotic car driving me to work. How far off is all this stuff in reality?AI is really good at looking at data, finding patterns, and predicting things, and less good at moving through the physical world. Ive talked with autonomous car experts, and they said the marketing around those vehicles has greatly outpaced the technology. Most people think were still at least a decade away from seeing self-driving cars regularly. And youre going to see drones repairing bridges and doing other tasks away from people more than seeing them coming through residential neighborhoods. What were going to see a lot more of are things like smart earrings and smart necklaces and other devices tracking our biometric data and sharing it with a lot more people. Your doctor. The government. Were going to see our data increasingly getting sucked up. AI can help improve things, and to do that, you have to let it run loose. But what we dont know yet is how much it will mess up things.

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This Philly Journalist's Podcast About Artificial Intelligence Will Scare the Hell Out of You - Philadelphia magazine

Joined up thinking is the key to converting AI-driven advances into real benefits for healthcare systems, say NHSX.

Healthcare systems the world over have been facing the same challenges for some time and the pandemic has only served to compound them.

Aging populations, a growing number of people living with long-term conditions, and dwindling resources meant the NHS was already being asked to do more with less before COVID-19 hit.

Now, on top of pre-existing skills gaps and funding shortages, it faces record-breaking waiting lists, and a race to understand and cater for people with an erstwhile unknown disease.

NHSX believes artificial intelligence (AI) could hold at least part of the answer but where are we right now, and what more needs to be done to ensure system-wide implementation?

Embracing AI potential

AI has long been mooted as a potential solution to some of healthcares biggest challenges, yet, to date, adoption has been slow.

The NHS AI Lab, set up in 2019 in partnership with the Accelerated Access Collaborative, was designed to change that.

The opportunities presented by AI for saving money, improving care, and saving lives are huge and must not be wasted, said a spokesman, adding that progress is not that fast.

Most examples of AI for health or care are, at best, proofs of concept working in small-scale highly constrained environments. We have very few examples that have achieved scale to impact mainstream clinical practice and help large numbers of patients.

Since its inception, the AI Lab has been working with a number of developers from both within and outside of the health service. The idea is to continue to build the evidence base for new technologies, as well as identify and overcome roadblocks to implementation.

The COVID affect

An NHS AI Lab progress report, published last week, said 2020 had been a strong year for AI, with the pressures of COVID-19 helping to highlight many of its potential benefits.

Dr Indra Joshi, director of AI at NHSX said: The pandemic has had such an enormous impact on the NHS with waiting lists at an all-time high.

Through the AI Lab we are seeing examples of how AI can play its part in helping to alleviate some of the pressures facing the NHS, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it be through efforts to speed up diagnosis and treatment, or alleviating clinician time and assisting with early detection.

An NHSX survey of 368 AI developers and procurers, for example, found that the pandemic had helped accelerate progress in some areas.

A third of AI developers indicated a positive impact, where healthcare pressures had resulted in a rapid uptake of AI tools and an increased acceptability for digital technologies being used to deliver care, said the report, 2020-21: A Year in the Life of the NHS AI Lab.

The COVID effect, however, was not positive across the board. A similar number of developers reporting a negative impact, with examples of including problems related to the re-deployment of clinical staff, reduced data collection, and a lack of engagement for non-COVID-19 activity.

We are seeing examples of how AI can play its part in helping to alleviate some of the pressures facing the NHS whether it be through efforts to speed up diagnosis and treatment, or alleviating clinician time and assisting with early detection

Diagnostics

More than half, 57%, of the survey respondents said their technology focused on diagnostics, a trend that was reflective of much of the literature in this area.

The diagnosis of disease in particular the reading of images like CT scans and X-rays is proving a dominant area for the use of AI-driven technologies, said the review, adding that the NHS AI Labs AI in Health and Care Award was funding the testing and research for a range of products in this area, such as cancer screening and stroke assessment.

Many commentators believe this kind of approach will help healthcare systems reduce waiting lists, speed up diagnostics, and close widening skills gaps. Machine learning (ML) models that screen images and then flag those of concern to human experts, for example, can free up skilled staff to concentrate on more important tasks.

However, training such algorithms to produce accurate, non-biased results requires access to extensive datasets such as the National COVID-19 Chest Imaging Database (NCCID).

The joint initiative between NHSX, the British Society of Thoracic Imaging (BSTI), Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and Faculty will help drive understanding of the disease and how to manage it.

It is a centralised UK database containing chest X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, and computed tomography images from hospital patients across the country.

The benefits of collecting chest imaging data are extensive, explained NHSX. This data has the potential to enable faster patient assessment in A&E, save radiologists time, increase the safety and consistency of care across the country, and ultimately save lives.

It is being made available to researchers, clinicians, technology companies, and all those wanting to investigate the disease and develop solutions that can support the COVID-19 patient care pathway.

AI future?

According to the NHSX, the UK is second only to the USA in terms of the number of AI-driven healthcare technologies currently in development. But joint working, it said, was key to converting these technological advances into improved patient outcomes.

It is our aim to continue creating an environment that enables both developers and adopters of AI technologies to thrive, and to bring the benefits of AI quickly and safely to the people who need it most, said the review.

There is an immense pool of knowledge and experience at hand in the regulators and bodies with whom we are partnering to achieve this, and within industry. The continuation of this joined-up approach is a principal factor in our future plans.

About the author

Amanda Barrell is a freelance health and medical education journalist, editor and copywriter. She has worked on projects for pharma, charities and agencies, and has written extensively for patients, healthcare professionals and the general public.

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AI in action: Report highlights the real-world benefits of AI in healthcare - - pharmaphorum

The AI algorithm helps medical professionals accurately insert ventilators in patients suffering from Coronavirus.

CLEVELAND EDITOR'S NOTE: The video in the player above is from a previous, unrelated story.

University Hospitals announced it is using a new General Electric Healthcare Imaging System into daily practice.

The Critical Care Suite 2.01 is the world's first on-device artificial intelligence program that helps medical professionals assess endotracheal tube placement. It is important for doctors and nurses to be able to quickly and accurately place a ventilator in patients who need it, including those suffering from COVID-19. During the pandemic, up to 15% of COVID-19 patients require intubation.

As many as one in four intubations nationwide results in a tube not being placed properly. If that goes unrecognized, those mispositions can lead to complications including collapsed lungs, hyperinflated lungs and even cardiac arrest.

UH radiologists read dozens of images a day from patients who may have a mispositioned tube, and those readings can take several hours each.

But the new technology that UH is putting in place can help address those problems. The software acts as artificial intelligence that can help guide the placement of ET tubes. It can also detect if a patient has a collapsed lung or other complication, and flags the image for immediate reading. This helps set the patient on a rapid path to treatment and recovery. The unit is also mobile, meaning it can travel directly to patients.

In several COVID-19 patient cases, the pneumothorax AI algorithm has proved prophetic. It has accurately identified collapsed lungs in intubated COVID-19 patients, flagging the image to radiologists and radiology residents, and enabling expedited patient treatment, said Amit Gupta, MD, Modality Director, Diagnostic Radiography at University Hospitals. Altogether, this technology is a game changer, helping us operate more efficiently as a practice, without compromising diagnostic precision.

UH started testing the Critical Care Suite 2.0 back in February, and began using it officially in March. It is the first hospital in the world to integrate the technology into daily critical practice.

UHs evaluation and implementation of Critical Care Suite 2.0 represents a close working relationship between GEHC and University Hospitals that spans two decades, said Robert Chip Gilkeson, MD, Director, Cardiovascular Imaging Center and Vice Chairman of Research at University Hospitals. Employing this equipment means better care for our patients.

Our goal at UH is to provide the most advanced, high-quality care and as such we continuously look to improve upon our processes to help us deliver on this objective, said Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, Chief Quality & Clinical Transformation Officer at University Hospitals. Mispositioned ET tubes could cause harm and this AI solution is enhancing the care of our critically ill patients, creating a potentially safer, more effective treatment pathway.

Since its introduction, Critical Care Suite 2.0 has helped assess about 150 patients per week at UH Cleveland Medical Center.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The video in the player below is from a previous, unrelated story.

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University Hospitals to begin using artificial intelligence to intubate COVID-19 patients - WKYC.com

News

Microsoft and Darktrace announced a partnership on Monday in which Darktrace's artificial intelligence (AI) security solutions are getting integrated with three Microsoft services.

Cambridge, U.K.-based Darktrace makes security solutions that "learn" on their own about what's a threat, identifying even novel ones, based on AI algorithms. The company claims to be the first to have applied AI to software security. Darktrace was "founded in 2013 by mathematicians and cyber experts from government intelligence backgrounds," according to a company overview.

The partnership with Microsoft appears to be a technology integration effort. It involves the hosting of Darktrace's e-mail security solutions on Microsoft Azure datacenters. Additionally, the deal includes a technology integration with Azure Sentinel, Microsoft's security information and event management solution. Also, the partnership is enabling Darktrace's AI to connect with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft's service for protecting endpoint devices plus conducting post-breach analyses.

Under the partnership deal, Microsoft is hosting Darktrace's Antigena Email service on Azure. Additionally, Antigena Email is being offered through the Azure Marketplace online store.

Darktrace claims that its e-mail service uses AI to "learn" the individual behaviors of e-mail users and block threats. Antigena Email analyzes attachments and links in e-mails. It also spots domain spoofing, a technique used to disguise malicious links in e-mails. Microsoft 365 connector technology is used by Antigena Email to identify "anomalous logins and account behavior," as well.

Microsoft's and Darktrace's solutions are being provided to "joint customer environments," according to Poppy Gustafsson, Darktrace's CEO, in a released statement. "Everywhere Microsoft runs, Darktrace secures," she added.

Darktrace described its self-learning AI security solution as using so-called "Enterprise Immune System" technology. It's said to be modeled after the human immune system's ability to recognize pathogens and produce antibodies against future attacks. Antigena Email was able to react "in seconds" during the worldwide spread of the infamous WannaCry malware of 2017, the company contends.

In addition to its Microsoft partnership, Darktrace works with Okta, Slack and Zoom. Its products integrate with various firewall and security management solutions, as well.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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Microsoft and Darktrace Partner on Azure and AI Security Solutions - Redmondmag.com

getty

Every week, Q.ai releases a thematic screen, courtesy of the Forbes AI Investor platform. With real-time insights and our proprietary internal ratings system not to mention our artificial intelligence unit we provide the data you need to build your portfolio in the long-term. This week, our thematic focus is on Quality Value.

Source: Forbes AI Investor

Q.ai runs factor models daily to get the most up-to-date reading on stocks and ETFs. Our deep-learning algorithms use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to provide an in-depth, intelligence-based look at a company so you dont have to do the digging yourself.

Sign up for the free Forbes AI Investor newsletterhereto join an exclusive AI investing community and get premium investing ideas before markets open.

Electronic Arts, Inc ticked down .12% on Friday to $142.42. In the after-hours since, the stock has seen some minor fluctuations, though prices have mostly remained above the $140 mark in keeping with the 22-day price average of $141.64. Electronic Arts is down 1% for the year.

Electronic Arts is set to debut their Q4 and fiscal year 2021 earnings results on Tuesday, which sets this videogame developer first on our thematic screens list. With some major titles released under their brand in the third quarter notably FIFA 21 and Madden NFL 21 for Sony PS5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X, investors are expecting to see strong sales throughout Q4. However, since Electronic Arts often focuses on updating its franchise titles, investors should also expect the developer to fall short of some other at-home entertainment companies.

EA 5-year performance

Still, Electronic Arts posted decent pandemic numbers over the last fiscal year, with revenue up by 2.4% and expected growth of 8% over the next 12 months. While their three-year growth only hit 10% - up to $5.5 billion from $5.1 billion their EPS hit $10.30 in the last fiscal year, compared to $3.34 in the same time frame. At the same time, the companys operating income remained remarkably steady, up to $1.45 billion from $1.43 billion.

With their numbers wavering by only a few percent, the upcoming quarterly results are likely to post strong, but not necessarily astronomical, numbers. That said, Electronic Arts is trading with a forward 12-month P/E of 23x, which indicates potential for future growth as economies rebound.

But the results from our AI models are less optimistic in the short-term. While Electronic Arts is rated A in Quality Value and Technicals, the company earned a C in Low Volatility Momentum and an F in Growth, placing it squarely in Neutral recommendation territory for the month of May.

Quest Diagnostics DGX inched up 0.27% on Friday, ending the week at $139.03. The stock has been rising consistently over the last month, if the 22-day price average of $130.63 is any indication, with the stock totaling up 14% for the year.

Quest Diagnostics is an American clinical laboratory operating in the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. Their services range from routine blood tests to complex genomic and molecular sequencing and Covid-19 testing. In fact, the company processed nearly half of US Covid tests in March of last year, and currently handles up to 20% of nationwide testing today.

Quest Diagnostics 5-year performance

So why is Quest Diagnostics in the news? For one big reason: the companys SVP Michael Prevoznik raked in over $6.1 million last week for shedding nearly 45,000 shares of his own companys stock. While there are plenty of reasons to sell (including the companys buyback program in February), investors are often wary when a big name drops nearly half of their total investment in a company.

Aside from the SVP dropping his own stock like a hot potato, Quest Diagnostics has had a rather uneventful few weeks in the news. The company has exhibited strong performance over the last year, with revenue up over 9.5% to $9.4 billion (compared to $7.5 billion three years ago), with operating income soaring over 22.8% to $2.1 billion up 126% over the last three years.

At the same time, Quest Diagnostics has seen EPS growth nearing 26% in the last year, and 149% in the last three, to $10.47 on the back of the pandemic. Their ROE is up, too, over the last three fiscal years, from 15% to almost 24%. But all this recent growth doesnt leave the company much short-term wiggle room currently, Quest diagnostics is trading with a forward 12-month P/E of 14.88.

That said, our AI sees Quest Diagnostics as a good long position to take, with As in Quality Value and Growth, B in Low Volatility Momentum, and C in Technicals. All told, Q.ai rates Quest Diagnostics a Top Buy for the merry month of May.

VMWare, Inc VMW ticked up 0.17% on Friday, ending the day just over $163 against a 22-day price average of $160. While the stock has seen some mild turbulence this year, overall, its been on the rise, with VMWare trading up over 15% for the year.

VMWare, Inc is an American cloud computing and virtualization company made famous by their successful virtualization of the x86 architecture. Their software runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux systems to support various cloud operations such as storage, networking, and security, among others.

VMWare 5-year performance

Currently, VMWare is owned by Dell, who bought VMWares parent company in 2016. VMWare was seen as the big price of the $67 billion acquisition, as Dell had struggled previously to keep up with new trends in its core business. And now, all eyes are on Dell as the company is expected to announce at its upcoming Dell Technologies World event how they will spin off its VMWare stake to further innovation, reduce its debt, and increase its profits.

While VMWare is a big company with a lot going for it, the pandemic has not been especially fruitful for them. However, when viewed over a three-year time horizon, VMWare is still a profitable company with room to improve.

For instance, their revenue has grown from $9.6 billion to $11.77 billion in the last three fiscal years, with operating income increasing from $1.8 billion to nearly $2.2 billion. At the same time, their EPS has expanded from $3.92 to $4.86. And while their recent performance is underwhelming, theyre trading with a forward 12-month P/E of 23.66.

Still, our AI is slightly wary of VMWare. While the company is an excellent value in fact, with an A in Quality Value the rest of their metrics leave something to be desired: Cs in Low Volatility Momentum and Technicals, with a D in their Growth potential. On the whole, VMWare, Inc. is rated Neutral for the month of May.

eBay, Inc inched up 1.2% on Friday to $59.78 per share, keeping in line with their 10-day price average of $59.32. The stock has seen a shaky month, with shares crashing nearly $6 in a day in late April, though eBay has since regained most of its losses. And with society still reopening slowly, the digital secondhand sales company is trading up almost 13.5% YTD.

As you can see in the chart below, eBays performance has languished somewhat in the past few years due to high fees, the arrival of competitors that offered free listings, and a bout of public humiliation as one-time subsidiary PayPal PYPL outgrew eBay at a rapid clip. However, with the pandemic kickstarting the companys profits and their stock prices eBay is an online retail contender once more, at least in the short term.

eBay 5-year performance

eBays recent fiscal performance underlines their comeback potential, with revenue climbing nearly 9% in the last fiscal year and 29% in the last three, from $8.65 billion to $10.3 billion.

Their operating income outpaced their revenue growth significantly, soaring 65.8% over the last three years to $2.7 billion. Their EPS followed suit, with 61% three-year growth seeing EPS skyrocket from $2.56 to $7.89 in per-share earnings.

Remarkably, their ROE saw significant growth as well, up to a whopping 79% from just under 30% three years ago.

However, eBays long-term revenue prospects are expected to slip somewhat, with 0.67% growth expected in the next twelve months. But with a forward 12-month P/E of 14.39, their stock still has plenty of wiggle room to excel.

Q.ais artificial intelligence agrees, as well, as the company is rated A in Quality Value, B in Low Volatility Momentum, and Cs in Technicals and Growth. While no one can be sure what the future holds for this once-lagging online giant, eBay, Inc. is rated Attractive for the rest of May.

OReilly Automotive, Inc ORLY ticked up just under 0.7% on Friday small potatoes by percentage, until you realize that brings the automotive giant up to $562.32 for the day, with YTD gains reaching well over 24%. The stock continues to inch upward day by day; Fridays numbers show the stock $30 over the 22-day price average of $531, with plenty of room still for OReillys to accelerate ahead of its competition.

OReilly 5-year performance

OReillys made our thematic screen last week, too, as the company gears up for the inevitable rush of cabin-feverish travelers itching to spend time having fun in the sun for summer 2021. The company has continued posting incremental but not insignificant growth, and in the week since has become one of our Quality Value screens, as well as a Momentum stock.

OReilly has seen a decent year on the back of the pandemic, as their status as an essential business kept the doors open. Though 5.3% revenue gains may not seem like a lot, that brings their total revenue up to $11.6 billion, while their operating income came in at $2.4 billion.

And over the past three years, the companys EPS has seen stellar growth, from $16.10 three years ago to $23.53 in the last fiscal year. At their same time, their already-astronomical 236% ROE has ballooned to an astronomical 651% in the last year.

And despite OReillys highwell, everything, the company still sees room for growth ahead, as theyre trading with a forward 12-month P/E of 22.32. And while our AI has rated OReilly D in Technicals, the rest of our analysis indicates a company worth your investment dollars, with a C in Growth and As in Quality Value and Low Volatility Momentum.

As such, OReillys remains Attractive for the month of May.

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Artificial Intelligence Identifies Electronic Arts As A Thematic Stock Highlight This Week - Forbes